Brass in Pocket - The Pretenders

'Got brass in pocket' is the first line of the third single by the Pretenders that tooped the charts in January 1980 and was their first real success. Quite what the line is doing there is not immediately clear. Apparently co-writer Chrissie Hynde overheard someone use the phrase at a concert they did in Wakefield. The song seems to be describing that burst of confidence some get when they want to impress someone they themselves are drawn to. Indeed, Hynde has said that it is about cockiness. It is as likely to be about impressiing someone of the opposite sex as impressing an audience at a concert. Hynde has stated it s nithing to with feminism. It apparently began as a guitar progression from the late Honeyman-Scott to which Hynde added the lyrics. She thought it was trying to be MoTown but failing. Many of the lyrics are not immediately clear. Brass is northern slang for money. 'Got bottle, I'm gonna use it' is using the word bottle as in Cockney rhyming slang (bottle and glass ie ass or more appropriately here sass). 'Detroit leaning' is American slang for driving a vehicle with one hand. New skank is cannabis and reet is a nod to a trope by comic artist Robert Crumb. Hynde tends to sing a little off key and she particularly did not like her voice on this song at first but came round. The bouncing tune fits the lyrics well. The persona could offend if it was more aggressive but one is willing to accept that the singer really is special somehow and deserves some attention. She is going to use, she says, her arms, her legs, her style, he sidestep, her fingers and (and this is the give away) her imagination. The fact she's winking at us should not be missed either. Showing off is a sin but maybe ina song one can be forgiven for it.

A thousand years - Christina Perri

"A Thousand Years" is a 2011 pop song written for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 that somehow wormed its way into my psyche many years later. Perri, an American singer and songwriter wrote it with her producer David Hodges. It became her second single on Atlantic Records, again from the film's official soundtrack.

The song was apparently what they call a sleeper hit, eventually reaching its peak position of number 11 in the UK and 31 in the US only after the release of the film sequel The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 in 2012. Perri re-recorded the song, again produced by Hodges, for the sequel, this time with added vocals from Steve Kazee. It was very successful round the world.

The song is about the love affair between Edward and Bella in the novel and subsequent film series and plays in the credits. However, you don't need to know that to enjoy the song. Every true love affair has its own version of "I have died every day waiting for you Darling, don't be afraid. I have loved you for a thousand years I'll love you for a thousand more." A beautiful tune, a clear voice, good but vague lyrics, nice piano chords guitar and orchestration, a romantic feel - no wonder it hooked me in. Also that final "And all along I believed I would find you, Time has brought your heart to me."

Two other carols - Simon & Garfunkel

More obscurely, two other carols sung by Simon & Garfunkel can be found. Comfort and Joy is an a cappella arrangement of the carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The Star Carol is a carol written by Alfred Burt and Wihla Hutson. It was first released by "Tennessee" Ernie Ford in 1958. Both are found on the album Old Friends published in 1997.

The lyrics of The Star Carol

The simple but moving lyrics of the star carol are

Long years ago on a deep winter night

High in the heavens, a star shone bright

While in the manger, a wee baby lay

Sweetly asleep on a bed of hay

Jesus our Lord was that baby so small

Laid down to sleep in a humble stall

Then came the star and it stood overhead

Shedding its light 'round His little head

Dear baby Jesus, how tiny Thou art

I'll make a place for Thee in my heart

And when the stars in the heavens I see

Ever and always I think of Thee.

Go tell it on the Mountain and 7 O'Clock news/Silent Night - Simon & Garfunkel

A feature of early Simon & Garfunkel is a willingness, despite being Jewish, to sing Christian songs, such as You can tell the world. Some of these songs are Christmas carols. Go Tell It on the Mountain is an African-American spiritual song probably passed down by oral tradition but originally published by John Wesley Work Jr (1871-1925) from Nashville. The lyrics are

Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere;

go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born

(alternatively, especially if it is not Christmas, "Jesus Christ is Lord".

If it is Easter, "That Jesus lives again".)

While shepherds kept their watching o'er silent flocks by night

Behold throughout the heavens there shone a Holy light

The shepherds feared and trembled when, lo! above the Earth

Rang out the angel chorus that hailed our Saviour's birth

Down in a lowly manger our humble Christ was born

And brought us all salvation that blessed Christmas morn

"Go Tell It on the Mountain" probably refers to the shepherds described in Luke's Gospel, hence the alternate title of "While shepherds kept their watching". 

Before Simon & Garfunkel recorded it in 1964, Peter, Paul and Mary had adapted and rewritten it with specific references to Exodus and using the phrase "Let my people go" but referring implicitly to the civl rights struggles of the early 1960s.

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Also in 1966 they recorded a version of the famous German language carol Silent Night. Billed as 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night the track is a sound collage juxtaposing their two part harmony rendition of Silent Night with a simulated 7 O'Clock News bulletin featuring actual events from the summer of 1966 read by Charles O'Donnell, a then radio disc jockey. As the track progresses, the news report assumes a greater presence through an increase in volume. The very basic point is made that though Jesus has come, the world is still a mess. Jewish polemic sometimes argues that Messiah cannot have come because of this but that is to forget the Second Coming. The mix on the track purposely clashes with the piano accompaniment mixed solely to the left channel and the news solely to the right channel while vocals remain in the middle.

Events referred to include a dispute in the House of Representatives over "the civil rights bill"; the death of comedian Lenny Bruce from an overdose aged 42 (actually 40); Martin Luther King Jr. reaffirming plans for an open housing march; the grand jury indictment of Richard Speck for the murder of nine (actually eight) student nurses; disruption by protesters at the House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings into anti-Vietnam War protests; a speech by former Vice-President Richard Nixon to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (actually the American Legion) urging an increase in the war effort in Vietnam, and calling opposition to the war the "greatest single weapon working against the US".

Winter Song - Lindisfarne

Elvis Costello once called "Winter Song", the third track on Lindisfarne's 1970 debut Nicely out of tune, one of the greatest songs ever, and he may be right. There is a starkness about the presentation, appropriate for a winter song, and it sounds like a solo effort on first hearing but the bass and excellent mandolin work become evident on further listens. The contrasting harshness and gentleness of the vocals at various points is another great feature of this excellent alternative Christmas song that manages to reference snowdrops, the turkey in the oven, the Christmas presents bought, Santa and Jesus and yet remains sceptical throughout. Its message, a typical Alan Hull socialist one it would seem, is that in the midst of winter rather than just feeling sorry for ourselves we should spare a thought for homeless tramps, gypsies and even for Jesus (although even there Hull is as non-commital as he can be). What a striking song.

Do you spare one thought for Jesus

Who had nothing but his thoughts

Who got busted just for talking

And befriending the wrong sorts?

Mother and child reunion - Paul Simon

When Paul Simon's eponymous second album appeared in 1972, this was the first single taken from it. It is a reggae song recorded in Jamaica and has impressive guitar and drum work. The title has its origin in a chicken-and-egg dish called "Mother and Child Reunion" that Simon claims he saw on a menu in a Chinese restaurant. The lyrics were inspired by the death of a pet dog that was run over and killed, the first death Simon had personally experienced. It made him begin to wonder how he would react if the same thing happened to his wife at the time, Peggy Harper. "Somehow there was a connection between this death and Peggy and it was like Heaven, I don't know what the connection was" Simon told Rolling Stone at the time of its release. The song was recorded at Dynamic Sounds Studios, Torrington Bridge, Kingston, Jamaica, with Jimmy Cliff's backing group. Guitarist Huks ("Hux") Brown and bass guitarist Jackie Jackson were also long-time members of Toots & the Maytals. Cissy Houston is one of the four backing singers. Unusually, Simon recorded the music first then wrote and added the lyrics subsequently. He had previously wanted to make "Why Don't You Write Me" – recorded with Art Garfunkel on Bridge over Troubled Water – sound Jamaican but it ended up sounding like a "bad imitation" and the idea was abandoned. Simon was instructed by the musicians during the recording on the differences between reggae, ska and bluebeat. He felt awkward at first being "the only white guy there" and an American. He later overdubbed piano and vocals to the track, back in New York.

Beautiful Day - U2

Probably the Irish band U2's best album is their tenth, All that you can't leave behind. Released in 2000, its opening track is Beautiful Day, also released as a very successful single. The distinctive percussive guitar sound is a reversion to earlier hits. The song won various prestigious awards and is apparently a concert favourite. It went through various incarnations before emerging in its final form, the genesis being a chord sequence written by lead singer Bono and adapted by guitarist, The Edge. The band got bogged down with the song at one stage but producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois took things forward by introduing a drum machine, a piano part, synthesised strings and a new guitar part. Near the end of a 20-minute jam of the song, Bono sang, "It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away". After lunch, this impromptu vocal became the song's chorus. The Edge also added a high backing vocal and Lanois a lower wimoweh vocal. These were doubled and processed by Eno. The later mix, which included work by Steve Lillywhite, added a Bono guitar part. The bass line was also changed and some of the guitar work. The song ended up with four different time signatures. It opens with reverberating electric piano over a string synthesiser. The progression set up continues throughout the verses and chorus. After the opening line, "The heart is a bloom", the rhythm enters. In verse 1, Bono's vocals are in the front of the mix. About 30 seconds in a guitar arpeggio pattern first appears, echoing across the channels. The verses are relatively quiet until the chorus, when the Edge begins playing the song's guitar riff and the drums enter. During the chorus, Bono sings in a restrained manner, contrasting with the Edge's loud background vocals and the sustain on "day". After the second chorus, a bridge section begins, heightening the track's emotion as Bono sings "Touch me. Take me to that other place".The bridge links to the middle eight with a section in which the Edge repeats a modulated two note phrase on guitar. After seven seconds, the rhythm breaks and the middle eight begins. The lyrics for this section are in space, above Earth, as it were and views China, the Grand Canyon, tuna fleets and Bedouin fires, oil fields, etc. I especially like the biblical reference to "the bird with a leaf in her mouth after the flood", After a third chorus and a return of the bridge section, the song suddenly ends in a "low-key" fashion; most of the instrumentation stopping as a regeneration of a guitar signal drifts back and forth between channels before fading. According to Bono, it is about "a man who has lost everything, but finds joy in what he still has."